Social Responsibility

Social Responsibility

Lecture #8

In Class Assignment #4

• Name 5 current campaigns in fashion that represent social responsibility?

Why do Fashion Public Relations Professionals Need to Understand Social Responsibility?

What is Social Responsibility?

• Social Responsibility- The notion that, in addition to their business interests, individuals and organizations have certain obligations to protect and benefit other individuals and society and to avoid actions that could harm them.

Social Responsibility

• Is directly linked to ethics; considered corporate ethics.
• Society demands that organizations play an active role in solving society’s problems.
• Organizations must nourish cultures and promote ethical behavior.

Social Responsibility

• Being socially responsible does not mean making everyone happy.
• For example, an organization may choose to make a charitable contribution rather than increasing dividends to stockholders.

Social Responsibility

• Corporations are often short sighted paying attention to only its mission, products, and competition.
• Overtime, ignoring the needs of others actually causes us to ignore our own needs.
• We may need neighborhood help to open new stores
• We need well funded institutions to train technical skilled employees
• We need health care to lower absenteeism in our organization
• However large or small our organization is we cannot keep our business separate from the societies in which we operate.

Ethics in Business

• Business Ethics has become an oxymoron because of today’s disgrace of CEOs
• Enron Executives charged with massive accounting fraud
• The accounting firm Arthur Anderson was wiped out because of its aid of the Enron scandal
• WorldCom, Global Crossing, and Qwest Communications executives were accused of massive accounting fraud as well